My dear Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my most humble obeisances at your lotus feet on this occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of Your Divine Grace.
Finally, it is here: the most important event of the Centennial year. I consider myself very fortunate to be present in Calcutta, the city of your birth, on this most auspicious occasion.
This is not the only place a “celebration of a century” has been organized, however. More than 500 ISKCON temples, farm communities, and Nama Hatta centers have been working to make this event the most memorable one. Your loving disciples and grand-disciples, your congregation, your admirers and followers have gathered in unprecedented numbers. Celebration and VIPs are here to offer their homage. And that is not everybody.
There are more than 1,000 holy places here to show you appreciation by bathing you with their waters. And, above all of us, the Lord of Goloka must be here. Although invisible to our mundane vision, He would not miss such an opportunity, an occasion when His pure devotee’s glories are being chanted by everyone. The Lord says that He is present where His glories are being chanted: yatra gayanti mad-bhakta tatra tisthami narada. But He likes to hear the glories of His devotees more than His own glories, so this is certainly the Lord’s chosen spot. Prabhupada’s Avirbhava-tithi-mahotsava ki jaya!
The 100th anniversary of your birth is also the thirtieth anniversary of ISKCON. You once made a statement that ISKCON is your body. That body took birth in New York in 1966. There was a time you were alone, one person, though you visualized your ISKCON with devotees, temples, and books everywhere. You said that only time separates them from you. Now with only thirty years passed, your ISKCON body with its temples, devotees, and books has become a global phenomenon, with “Hare Krsna” a household word. Vaisnavas are famous as para-duhkha-duhki, and this fame will increase as the preaching increases. Sometime in the past, Newsweek magazine had an article about the growth of your movement in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The magazine described Hare Krsna as the fastest growing religion, with more than 700,000 followers all over the CIS. This is just a humble beginning, just the foundation or groundwork on which your future movement will be built. This process of building ISKCON is to go on for 9,500 years and is to reach every town and village of the world. All glories to your International Society for Krsna Consciousness. Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON ki jaya!

Your servant,
Lokanath Swami